MIAMI: Sporting gloves and surgical masks, teams of Coast Guardsmen labored to offload a pricey shipment, bale by heavy bale: 723 pounds of cocaine and 3,100 pounds of marijuana.
The drugs, worth nearly $14 million, arrived at the Coast Guard base in Miami Beach and were tallied and stacked dockside.
According to the agency, the drugs were confiscated during two recent seizures off the coasts of Colombia and Panama.
The time has come to legalize marijuana and cocaine Regretfully and reluctantly, A.M. Costa Rica today calls for the legalization of marijuana and cocaine. This newspaper has opposed drug use for the last 14 years, but society, public opinion and public actions have pretty well legalized…
On May 22, 14 bales of cocaine that were jettisoned from a go-fast boat were recovered after the Colombian Air Force maritime patrol alerted two cutters — Bear and Vigiliant — to a suspicious vessel northwest of Colombia, the Coast Guard said.
And on May 27, a helicopter crew from the Coast Guard Cutter Resolute saw another go-fast boat northeast of Panama tossing packages over the side as the cutter deployed its small boat. The Coast Guard says that operation resulted in the seizure of 62 bales of marijuana. Additionally, four people were taken into custody and are being processed by federal law enforcement officials in Miami.
“These individual seizures not only keep drugs off the streets and reduce the destabilizing effects they have on society, but they get our investigatory agencies one step closer to disabling the transnational criminal organizations that threaten the prosperity and security of free nations,” Cmdr. Tim Cronin, 7th District deputy chief of enforcement said in a statement released by the Coast Guard.
Both seizures were carried out as part of Operation Martillo (Hammer), which is part of the U.S. government’s strategy to deter Central American shipment routes for illicit drugs, weapons and cash.
The 723 pounds of seized cocaine and 3,100 pounds of seized marijuana were offloaded from the Coast Guard Cutter Vigilant Friday morning at the agency’s base in Miami Beach along the MacArthur Causeway.
Standing on the dock at the Coast Guard base, with the cocaine and marijuana stacked behind him, the commanding officer of the Vigilant told reporters that tracking and catching suspected smugglers is a challenging game of cat and mouse.
“Your will to catch them has to be greater than their will to get away and their will is pretty substantial. So it’s extraordinarily dangerous,” Cmdr. Sherman Lacey said.
The Coast Guard says the drugs have an estimated wholesale value of $13.7 million.
